Snooker in the old days

You will have to be at least as old as me (and I am quite ancient) to remember sport on television in black and white. "What's that?" I hear the youngsters cry.

Snooker, in particular, used to be a real problem. Imagine trying to work out which ball Ronnie O'Sullivan was going to pot next (by the way, do you know he was born in Wordsley Hospital?) when they all look the same? Hopefully the players were seeing the balls in colour.

The commentators could have a nightmare. Dear old Ted (from Pot Black) got it right most of the time, and without his expert commentary the game would have made no sense. However, even he wasn't infallible. In one match (I forget the names of the players) he was heard to say "if you are still watching in black and white he will now play the red which is just behind the blue". Useful that.



By the way, if I talked about things being 'lupine', 'caprine', 'murine' and 'vulpine', could you honestly tell me that you knew I was wittering on about wolves, goats, mice and foxes?